I cannot believe that this is the last day of November. Last day. Seriously. By the time I'm done typing, it will actually be the first day of December. Wow. I know, it's a chliche, but TIME FLIES!

​While we haven't decorated for Christmas yet, I have been indulging in peppermint anything I can manage. I did toss around the idea of decorating today while it was overcast, however school planning won out. (Yes, I'm patting myself on my back!) Which ended up to be a good thing because a certain little girl in our family turns 9 on Sunday and just decided that she wants to decorate on her birthday.

​I'll make the kiddos and Smokey some crock pot hot cocoa and a cup of this amazing delicousness for myself.

​I will never ever make it as a food blogger because I never write anything down. Sorry. But, the gist follows.

​Brew one cup of coffee (or, do as I did and take cold coffee from three hours prior and heat it on the stove top. What? I got distracted.) Melt some cocoa butter in a sauce pan and add your coffee if it needs to be heated up. Add your cofee and cocoa butter to your blender (did you get your Ninja last week?!), add a cap of MCT Oil , a spoonful of collagen (Great Lakes is my favorite!), sweetener to taste (I like Pyure), a few drops of ingestable peppermint essential oil or peppermint extract, and half and half to taste. Now, give it whir in you blender. Pour and drink. So yummy.

​No, it isn't exactly a White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks ... but so much better for you. I'm kicking around trying one of the S sweetened condenced milk recipes floating around, and maybe even just a peppermint creamer so I wouldn't have to drag the pot out if my coffee wasn't three hours old!

​What are your favorite traditions when decorating for Christmas? PLEASE share with us in the comments!

Since our van still isn't fixed, Thanksgiving is a mere three days away, and I have fall crafts riddling every spare inch of every closet, shelf, and corner I was trying to decide what to do. We missed every single fall market and fair ... that's a lot of wreaths, floral arrangements, mason jars, signs, and garlands.

​I thought about just labeling it a Crafty Yard Sale and setting up on the circle as everyone is on their way home from work ... and I may do that for some Christmas items. However, it just wasn't what I want to do. We live in a town house. With 56 neighbors on our street. We've actually spoken words to three of them. I'm pretty sure we have 56 crafts that we can secretly drop on doorsteps. Soooo, what are we doing? Tying this little greeting around each one. Then, when everybody is at work tomorrow my kids will try out their Ninja skills. Pray we aren't caught and that we are a blessing, OK?

​WOULD YOU LIKE TO BLESS YOUR NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS, FAMILY? Here, as a Thank You for your incredible patience with us these past three months, download your own Tag Printable for free. Just print, cut each one out, then use a hole punch to create your hole, and some twine or ribbon to tie to your gifts or just cut and place in an envelope to use as a card. :)

​A few years ago the children finished their curriculum for the year early. Three months early. Three months before it was in the budget to purchase new curriculum. While trying to figure out how to pay for it, I decided that we would give Etsy and Craft Shows a chance. At first it was a major flop. We had prayed, we put a lot of effort and time into it. Then, slowly our little fundraiser started to take off and somehow without us even really realizing it we had a full-fledged business on our hands. As we tried to balance school and business, the business started to take more and more of our time. We were getting school done, but it has never been my desire to just get school done. I've always purposed not to rush, rather savor life and our time together.

​I found out that "success" meant spending often times more than FIVE HOURS A WEEK merely shipping sold items, dragging my babies to get shipping supplies, packaging orders, and standing in line at the post office. All to make a $2 profit. For a while I told myself that it was a good experience for them, it was part of their education ... how many elementary school students had the opportunity to have a hand in making things from scratch and sending them all over the globe? I was getting 2 hours of sleep per night, but I just kept telling myself that it was only until we saved enough to move to a house with more room and were better able to build up inventory and shipping supplies to be efficient with our time.

​Then, everything started to break. I do mean everything. My Silhouette needed a new cutting strip (regular maintenance that I hadn't expected but I was using my machine so much more than normal that it just crept up on me), the air condition in our van broke, the air conditioning in the house broke, the dishwasher broke, the van broke completely, the washing machine broke, the power cord for the Silhouette was mysteriously ripped in two, my printer broke, the van broke again, the washing machine broke, the van broke again (and three months later is still broken).

​My production time slowed waaaay down. Soon, even ready to sell items were delayed because I had no way to get out to get shipping supplies and we don't have room to store any in bulk and I had no way to the post office. I let customers down. I let myself down. I missed paid for markets and craft fairs.

​Not wanting to give up, I tried my best to get everything out and devised a plan to only make items that used like shipping materials that were easier to store. That still didn't work well. During one of the times that my van was "fixed" I was making a huge run to the post office and the van broke again with everything inside which ended up never making it to the post office.

​Defeated and not wanting to let anyone else down, I decided to only offer digital items. I even went as far to ask for volunteers in my Facebook Group who were willing to share family photos to in exchange for free Christmas card designs.

​Then, suddenly my laptop wouldn't start. It was nine months old and under warranty so I sent it to be fixed. The entire hard drive was completely wiped clean. Gone. Poof. All of my designs. Everything. I couldn't even follow through with digital promises.

​Finally, my laptop is back to me and I'm starting from scratch. I have six people waiting on orders and hope to have them recreated and in the mail by next Tuesday.

​This time off has made me realize just how much time we were spending on the business and while each of us did enjoy it, we desperately needed this time to focus, to bring our family back to the basics. We were beginning to lose touch with what our main goal was. How on earth did we go from trying to fund curriculum to trying to fund a new house? We will fulfill our remaining obligations and take most of the rest of the year off. We love creating so may do one show in December, but only if we feel we have enough inventory ahead of time while still sleeping a decent amount at night and enjoying our days together.

​Thank you so much for sticking with me and for those that were praying; You will never know how much it means to me.

I said, "Ten!" then was shocked when while I waited for a disgusted snarl or a mouth wide open look of bewilderment, a slow smile that eventually adorned his whole face appeared.

I won't lie ... some days are hard, so very hard. However, in the midst of the hardest days a rainbow always appears.

Just the other day was one of those, "WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING?! I CAN'T EVEN DRINK A CUP OF COFFEE WITHOUT SPILLING IT ALL OVER ME. HOW MANY HOUSEPLANTS HAVE I KILLED? WHAT ON EARTH MADE ME THINK I COULD RAISE ONE KID, LET ALONE SEVEN? SHOULDN'T THERE BE SOME SORT OF PARENTING DRESS REHEARSAL OR A TEST TO PASS BEFORE HAVING KIDS?" kind of days.

​There was fighting, there were unfulfilled responsibilities, there were tears. During my temper tantrum (You know those words -plus plenty more- that ripped through my heart, swirled through my brain, and are now in quotes and all caps up there?) I was so *me* focused. I was so intent on my own shortcomings, shortcomings that I was absolutely certain were the reason my children didn't follow through with chores, were mean to each other, and were never ever going to succeed at anything. After flinging dirty laundry, a cup of coffee (that I didn't spill), and a little time with the Lord we all sort of just returned back to normal ... drifted back together with softened hearts. It was just a rough morning; One little infraction after another that made us all miserable.

​Us all. Not just me. We are *all* sinners, falling short of the glory of God. I can teach my children, I can beg them, I can even command them to do what is right. Some times they will even obey. However, I'm not a stand in for Jesus and I'm certainly not their Holy Spirit.

​With my eyes opened to truth and without allowing Satan to whisper lies into my ears, I was able to see and hear the beauty around me.

​All of those years that I imagined having a family and what it would look like, I never imagined it would be so amazing watching the bond between two sisters, 12 years apart, grow. The feeling I get when my kids love on each other ... well, it's indescribable, let's just say that no houseplant (dead or alive) could make me feel the same.​

Hello! This is me ... or it was about three and a half years ago but well, I'm always behind the camera not in front of it. Thanks for joining me at my little home on the web.

I've had blogs before because I enjoy writing; I enjoy looking back on the precious moments that don't always stay in the sticky part of our brains. When I decided to join the previous decade and join Facebook I just started using Facebook as my blog but it just isn't the same. I've recently looked through old blog posts and it definitely just. isn't. the. same.

​I've never had a How To or even a Here to Encourage You blog because I always just thought, eh, who am I to tell other people how to raise their kids or make their wreath or do their laundry? Well, tonight while out grocery shopping I realized that there were things that I want my children to know when it is their turn to remind the two year old to hold on to the cart while directing the eight year old to grab some spinach and keeping the nine month old from eating one bite out of every item in the produce department.

​As much as I love using my hands and creating things, I don't really care for making the same thing over and over and over again and I have no desire to become a manufacturing shop so you can expect a tutorial or two for the things I used to have in my Etsy shop.

​Homeschooling is such a part of our life that you better believe there will be a myriad of home-schooling posts. The same goes for cooking, decorating, parenting, you know ... just living.